* Day by Day with Summer Rhea *

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2010-04-03T07:45:00.005-04:00

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2010-04-03T07:45:00.003-04:00

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2010-04-03T07:45:00.001-04:00

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Sitting up

2010-02-17T18:50:00.006-05:00

My big girl has learned how to sit up on her own :) We have been practicing for a few weeks now and after lots of hard work on Summer's part, she has finally gotten it down!! She still gets a little wobbly after awhile, but she is just growing up and learning so fast!!

Here are several pictures of Summer sitting up and playing with her toys. She looks so proud that she has it mastered :)

Her favorite cartoon/character is Tigger & Pooh, therefore she LOVES her Tigger stuffed animal. When you push him down he bounces!! She squeals with laughter while playing with her Tigger toy, it is too cute!

Taking a break after playing hard with her toys. I thought this picture was priceless, she sat in this position for several minutes - I think she wore herself out playing for so long!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2010-02-14T18:40:00.001-05:00

Today was Summer's very first Valentine's Day!!! We had a great start to our day by having breakfast at IHOP with our baby girl. Eating out has gotten a little more challenging now that Summer is getting into EVERYTHING. She will no longer sit in her car seat while we're eating, she likes to sit up with us and grabs for everything in sight. She is still such a great and happy baby, but Brett and I both said that we have recently noticed just how much more we have to watch her now to make sure that she's not getting into mischief :)

After breakfast we went to the mall and Target to get out of the house and walk/look around for awhile. Then we went back to the house and Nana (Brett's mom) came over to spend time with Summer and bring her a Valentine present.

Here are some pictures from Nana's visit with Summer girl :

Summer holding her Valentine's bear from Nana, how sweet!!

Admiring her new teddy bear, she loves to rub her hands on really soft things, so here she is feeling her bear :
Happy girl :)

Showing Nana her "scooting" skills and practicing rolling over.
Taking a break to watch some cartoons, her favorites now are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Tigger & Pooh. She doesn't move when they come on, it's amazing to watch how mesmerized she gets by them!!

Here are some pictures from earlier this weekend while we were hanging out with "Mama Bear" (my mom). She taught Summer how to "drive" the Jeep.
Crazy girl hanging out the window!!

Summer's First Snow

2010-02-13T20:33:00.005-05:00

Friday, February 12th marked the first time that Summer had seen snow. This was a big deal, seeing how we live in the south and only have a good snowfall every few years, and that's if we're lucky!! I was watching Ethan and Cannon at their house like I do every Friday, and around 3:30 we looked out the widow and saw that it had started snowing!!! Jason came home early and told me that I should head home in case it started to stick, so that's what we did. We made it home safely just as the snow really started to stick to the ground. Brett had to work late, so we decided to stay inside and keep warm for the night. I opened up all of the blinds and Summer and I just sat in the living room and watched the snow fall. It was soo beautiful!!!

These pictures are a little bit out of order, but here is our "family" snowman that Brett made for us. He had to go back out to work on Saturday morning, so he wasn't really able to get out in the snow until it had almost melted. I'm just glad that he was able to make Summer her first snow man since I had to stay inside with her and keep her warm the whole weekend.

Here is a picture of Summer's first snowman :

I told Brett that you know you're southern when you use palm tree branches as the snowman's arms!!! I wish I had a hawaiian shirt and hat to put on him!!

Our little family and snowman :

Before Brett had to go back to work on Saturday morning, we took Summer out for a few minutes to enjoy her first snow. She LOVED looking at everything all pretty and white, but as soon as her hands touched the snow, she was taken by suprise and freaked out a little.

Here I am trying to calm her down from her startling and frozen encounter :
My little snow-bunny
"Daddy, what is all of this white and fluffy stuff and where did it come from??"

Daddy's girl

Me and my baby girl :)

Going out early this morning, Summer was thinking. "Why are we doing this soo early, I'm not even awake yet!!!"

We only took her out in the snow for about 5 minutes this whole weekend, Brett just wanted to see her out in the snow before it all melted away. I hate that he wasn't able to experience it with her as much as he wanted, but at least we had this morning together.
This next picture was from last night after the snow had been falling for several hours. It is crazy how fast it all accumulated!! We got a total of 8 inches, the most I have ever seen in my life!! Here is our backyard :

Happy 5 Month Birthday!!!!

2010-02-08T16:12:00.006-05:00

I have always been very big on birthdays. I believe that it is such a huge celebration of your life and a blessing of all the days that God has given you. It is like your own personal holiday, which deserves to be celebrated by the ones that love you the most!!

Therefore I call the 4th of every month, Summer's birthday. No, we don't have a party with cake and presents each time, but I do aknowledge the milestones that she has made so far.

On February 4th, it was Summer's 5 month birthday. I can't believe that 5 months have already flown right by us so fast!!! It feels like I haven't even had the time to sit down and soak it all in at certain times. But boy do I love every moment with my Summer girl.

Here is Summer and her daddy being happy as always:

On Saturday, 1/30 I noticed that Summer's first tooth was cutting through!! It was the front bottom right one and it was so cute :) I could tell that she really wasn't feeling well and was coming down with a little cold, and when I saw that little tooth in there, I realized that was probably why. We stayed home and rested a lot over the past week so that she could get over it, and by Friday she was sounding a lot better. Then this past Saturday, I saw that her SECOND bottom tooth had cut through!! It was so exciting to me - here is a picture of her showing off her two new teeth :

Me and my baby girl at 5 months old :

Here is Summer before supper time. She was kicked back and happy that it was time to eat!!!

Here are some more pictures over the past few weeks of Summer girl. I haven't been on the computer much since we have both been under the weather, so these were before her teeth actually came through :

Summer has also learned how to hold her bottle very well. Here she is drinking some milk while watching Tigger and Pooh :

Hanging with the big boys

2010-01-25T17:28:00.006-05:00

A couple weeks ago Brett's boss Jason called to tell me that the Nanny that watched their boys wasn't going to be able to watch them any longer. He asked if I would be interested in watching them on Mondays and Fridays since they go to pre-school Tues-Thursday. I told him that it would work out great and it would give Summer a chance to interact with children more her age.

I started going over there a week ago, and they are just the coolest boys ever. And not to mention they just eat Summer up :) She loves them too and is constantly laughing at them all day. I know she can't wait to get down and chase after them and I can tell that she is learning so much from them already.

Ethan just recently got a new motorcycle. It is so awesome!! I can't believe how well he can ride it also. Here he is showing me how it works :

"True Love" :)

Here is Summer laughing at the boys dancing for her, they love to entertain her so that they can hear her laugh.

Ethan being silly!I went upstairs to put Summer down for a nap, and when I returned Ethan was sitting in her carseat watching tv. He is so silly :)

Cannon and Ethan hanging out with Summer girl!! They love her so much.

Ethan (5), is especially interested in learning how to take care of baby Summer. I have taught him how to change her diaper, how to hold her and be gentle, and how to feed her a bottle. He does a great job with her and he is very proud that he now knows how to take care of her. Here he is giving her lots of kisses :)

Summer thinks that he is so much fun too, everytime he is near her she starts squealing and reaching out to touch him.

Cannon (3), is soo great with her as well. He has nicknamed her "baby December" - I think it's too funny!! Cannon is more interested in playing with "December". He likes to tickle her, make silly faces, and get up and dance for her. And of course Summer thinks he is hilarious. After playing hard, Cannon likes to curl up and watch cartoons with her. He is already asking me several times a day if Summer can come to his Spiderman birthday party, which is in July. I keep telling him of course! She'll definitely be chasing after him by then!

I am so glad that the boys are so well behaved and good with Summer. They have the best manners, and I think that they are good "teachers" for Summer while she is already growing up so fast... we're looking foward to it warming up a bit more so that we can go out on fun trips together!!

Miss Chatter box :)

2010-01-17T20:47:00.000-05:00

For the past two weeks Brett has been working ALOT. Most nights he hasn't gotten home until 8 or 9, so he hasn't been able to spend much time with Summer since she goes to bed at 7:30. This Saturday he didn't have to work so he was able to spend the whole day with us!!! I have been telling him that Summer is a huge talker now and she keeps me entertained all day long - but he didn't understand until he had the whole day to witness it!!!

She babbled her daddy's head off this weekend :) Brett looked at me and said, "Does she ever stop?? I'm getting a slight headache and she hasn't stopped talking for hours now." I looked at him and said, "Ohh you just wait!!! No she doesn't stop talking as long as she is awake and you just wait until she is saying real words!!" Boy is he in for it :)

But I think it is great that Summer is so vocal. I can already tell that she is going to be a very fast learner and there will never be a dull moment around this house any longer!! Here is Summer getting ready for bed after a fun filled day with her daddy :

And here she is still babbling away while getting ready for bed Saturday night, she wanted to tell everyone "Goodnight!!"

Playtime at the Park

2010-01-15T19:48:00.001-05:00

Today Aunt Kara and Uncle Shane were out of school for an inservice day, so they decided to come over and play!! It was such a beautiful day out and the first time in weeks that it was fairly warm, so we decided to get out of the house. We went for a walk around the neighborhood, and then decided to walk over to the playground that is right down from our house.

Kara and Shane had a blast playing hard and burning off all of that energy!

Summer enjoyed watching them act goofy, here she is laughing at them. I know she'll be happy when she can get down and chase after them as well :)

This was Summer's first time going to the playground, so I wanted to take her down the slide for her first time!! I know there will be plenty more trips down this slide in our future.

"Weee!!! I did it :) "

Me and my girl relaxing while the kids play.

Since Summer couldn't get down and play with the big kids, she found other ways to have fun. Here she is playing with her puppy dog.

Then we went down to the creek by our house. Here are Kara and Shane throwing rocks into the water :

Summer and I found a big rock to sit on in the creek so that we could watch the kids playing. It was so beautiful down there. We'll have to go back and bring our bathing suits when it gets warmer out :)

After playing hard, we walked back home to eat some lunch. It was still so beautiful out that I didn't want to waste it by staying inside all day. Kara and Shane decided to play a game of hide and go seek outside, they just weren't allowed to leave our cul-de-sac. Summer girl and I sat on the porch and played with the dogs while they were doing that.

Summer is infatuated by dogs right now. She LOVES them and cannot stop giggling when they're around. I know she would love it if she could chase after our dogs, because everytime they are near she reaches her hand out to touch them, and then when they give her kisses on the hand she starts laughing even more. She even loves watching cartoons that have dogs in them. Pluto is her very favorite, she starts squealing when he comes on tv - it's hilarious to watch!

I put Summer in her little seat so that she could be down closer to the dogs and she had a blast watching them. I never got a picture of her touching our dogs because they ran off everytime, but here she is playing outside with them :

Having so much fun!!

What a happy girl :)

Baby it's cold outside

2010-01-09T10:13:00.004-05:00

This past week hasn't been very eventful. It has been WAY too cold to go out and do much, so for the most part Summer and I have been playing around the house all week and trying to stay warm :)

Even when staying indoors we still know how to have a good time! Here is my Summer girl playing away :

Summer has recently learned how to make new noises with her mouth. Her favorite is to blow on her bottom lip and make "pooting" noises. It is so funny to hear a little baby do this and I can't help but laugh!! She thinks it's funny too because she'll start laughing afterwards and then continue on "pooting" away. I have recorded her doing this several times, but it sounds so un-lady like that I decided not to put them up. Here are a couple pictures of Summer being silly and making new sounds :

She surely is a unique individual and can entertain herself for hours. Since I was an only child for 10 years, I was exactly the same way - so we know where she gets it from!!

Summer and I did have to get out a few times to take care of my grandparents and to pick Aunt Kara up from school, so I made sure that she was extra bundled up for the occasion. Aunt Victoria lended us this carseat cover to use this winter and it is AWESOME. It is made out of thick fleece and corduroy and wraps around the entire carseat. After putting Summer in, I can zip it up and pull down the flap over her head and it completely keeps the cold air out!

"I all warm and cozy now, let's hit the road!!!"

Summer has also become a little piggy recently! She knew right away how to eat from a spoon, so there wasn't much to get used to with that. We have always let Summer sit with us while we are eating and she has always watched us intently as we do so, so I think she was just waiting for us to finally offer her some :)

After eating plain cereal for a week, we have now started introducing stage 1 fruits and vegetables into her cereal to get her used to different textures and flavors. Right now Summer is not a big fan of vegetables. We will keep trying and I hope she will learn to love them eventually...I'll keep everyone updated on how that goes!!

However, she is a huge fan of fruits - bananas in particular!! She literally sucks the whole bowl down within minutes. When I take the spoon away from her to get more she fusses, but as soon as she sees the spoon full of bananas coming towards her she starts to squeal and giggle with delight! It is too funny.

I took this video of Summer and her daddy last night after eating a big bowl of cereal and bananas, she was one happy girl! Here they are playing and giggling :

Happy 4 month birthday!!!

2010-01-05T15:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Summer's 4 month birthday!!! She is growing up way to fast, I wish the months would just slow down a little! Here is Summer on her birthday playing with Buddy. Buddy always wants to be wherever she is and here he was wanting up onto her exersaucer so he could play :)

Buddy trying to give Summer kisses, and she is so mesmerized by him. Sometimes I

wish I knew what she was thinking...it would probably be something like "What is this hairy thing that follows me everywhere and is always trying to lick me?!" Now that Summer is 4 months, it is time to start getting her used to eating with a spoon. Last night we gave her a teaspoon of rice cereal and mixed it with her formula in a bowl to see how she liked it. She did good job for her first try!! I don't think she liked the texture of it very much, but ate almost all that I made for her!! It was messy to say the least, but what can you expect in learning something new?!

Here is Summer before her first bowl of cereal (note how clean!) :

"What messy fun mom!! Can we do this again?!"

I thought she did a great job with her first "solid meal". Once the whole cereal thing is mastered, then it's on to fruits and vegetables!!

After getting a full belly, we went into Summer's play room to watch tv and play on her mat. I think Summer was a little too full because 5 minutes later she was passed out asleep :

Today Summer had to go to the doctor for her 4 month check up and to get shots. Here she is in the baby waiting room. She was having a good time playing while waiting for it to be her turn.

Dr. Mills came in to check her all over and see how much she has grown. She now weighs 13 1/2 pounds and is 25 1/2 inches long!!! She has gained 7 pounds and grown 6 inches since she was born just 4 months ago, that's crazy! Dr. Mills said that she is looking super healthy and growing like a weed. After she left it was time to get ready for Summer to get her shots. Here she is all bright-eyed and laughing while we were waiting for the nurse :

Poor thing had no idea what was about to happen :(

Summer ended up doing GREAT for her shots, she didn't even cry!! I was all nervous and worried for nothing. She fell asleep in the car on the way home, and here she is after she woke up from her nap. She was as happy as can be :)

She really loves her feet now that she found them and is constantly trying to put them in her mouth.

Summer is still doing great with sleeping through the night. She loves taking a bath right before bed and I think that helps ease her to sleep and also to keep her asleep through the night. She goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up at 7:30 the next morning. She takes two naps during the day also - a short nap in the morning from 8:30 to 9:30, and a longer nap in the afternoon from 2-4.

She now eats between 6-7 ounces of formula every 4 hours with a big bottle of 8-9 ounces at night.

Here she is winding down in her crib before her afternoon nap.

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-01T15:29:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!!!! We had a great time on New Years Eve hanging out with our friends. My mom and sister came over to watch Summer at our house while we went to dinner at Miyabi's for our friend Kati's birthday. Dinner was delicious and it was Kati's first time going to a Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you, so it was alot of fun experiencing this with her! After dinner everybody came over to our house to hang out. I didn't want to be out on the roads or away from Summer on New Years Eve, so this worked out perfectly. My mom had already put Summer to bed for us, and I was suprised that she slept through all of the fireworks, she didn't wake up until 8:00 the next morning!

Here is Summer on New Years day enjoying herself a cookie :

Summer is growing so fast, a little too fast for my liking. She will be 4 months old on Monday. Where does the time go?! Summer is really into playing with all of her toys now and she loves bright colors. She loves playing in this exersaucer that was passed down from her cousin Rhianna. We put it up infront of the tv in her playroom and she laughs and giggles so loud when she's in it - it cracks us up just to watch her!!

Summer's first Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T22:00:00.001-05:00

Today is Summer's very FIRST Christmas!!! This is so exciting because Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and I think back to how much my parents always did for me to make sure that each year was even more special than the last. I look foward to all the years ahead and carrying on the traditions that my parents always did with me.

These pictures were taken last night on Christmas Eve as Summer was getting ready for bed.

"I've been a good girl in my 3 short months here, so bring me lots of treats Santa!!"

This morning we went to Meme's house to eat lunch and open presents. Here is Meme with her two great -grandaughters on Christmas morning.

Meme loves her baby Summer so much, here she is stealing her kisses :)

Then it was time to open presents. At Meme's house, the rule is that everyone opens up their presents according to age, starting with the youngest and working its way up...Summer got to go first. The GIANT bag you see was filled to the top with goodies, all for Summer!

Our baby girl racked up this year!!! She got clothes, toys, diapers, wipes, and a newborn Cabbage Patch doll from her Meme and Grandaddy Mark...she now needs a second bedroom to put off her new stuff in!!

This year we made Meme a calender filled with pictures of Summer so that she could hang it up and she her baby everyday. Here she is opening it :

After visiting with Meme, we headed over to my grandparent's house for supper and to see all of my family. We were still stuffed from lunch so we didn't eat much, but we still had fun hanging out with everyone and catching up. My cousin Lindsay and her husband Michael suprised us and came down from their home in Charlotte to join us for Christmas dinner!! We haven't seen them in over 2 years, so it was nice to talk with them and catch up with all that has been going on.

This is a video of my uncle Harold as he got Summer cracking up at him on Christmas night...he really has the magic touch with her, Summer just eats him up :)

We had a perfect first Christmas with our daughter today. Spending time with her and our family is all that we could ask for, and we can't wait for all the fun times in the years ahead :)

Christmas Eve at Nana's

2009-12-24T21:30:00.000-05:00

This year for Christmas we wanted to try something new and see how it went. Instead of trying to cram Christmas Day full of travelling from house to house to see everybody, we wanted to space our visits out over Christmas Eve and Day. That way we wouldn't feel so rushed and we could actually enjoy our time spent with family. So for Christmas Eve everyone met over at Brett's mom's (Nana) house to eat breakfast and open presents. It worked out perfectly!!!

We got there around 9:30 to eat a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls, biscuits, breakfast casserole, and fruit. Then we headed upstairs to open presents by the tree. Here are some pictures of Summer looking at all the neat things she got :

Summer got tons of new toys, books, and clothes...the child is already spoiled rotten :) Right now she's really into anything that she can fit into her mouth. Here she is with her new teething toy from Nana :
Here we are showing off our new cooking set from Brett's mom...we threw Summer in the frying pan for fun :)

Me and my Summer girl on Christmas Eve.

So happy that it's finally Christmas!!

Nana reading one of Summer's new books to her. Summer didn't know what to think with all of her cool new toys!!

Pooped!! Nana, Brett, and Summer taking a nap after a busy morning :)

Spending Christmas Eve with Brett's family was a great idea and hopefully the beginning of a new tradition. We really enjoyed being able to relax and spend all the time we wanted to over there without feeling stressed about getting to the next family member's house. Now it's time to get Miss Summer to bed so that Santa will leave her lots of goodies in the morning :)

Trip to the doctor....

2009-12-21T15:53:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I noticed that Summer was starting to seem pretty congested in her head when she would wake up in the morning and after nap time. I called her Doctor this morning and they wanted to work her in to make sure that it was nothing serious.

Dr. Mills checked her over real well and listened to her lungs for a long time and determined that it was just a little head cold. She said that her lungs sounded great and that most babies will get a cold like this when they start teething and putting everything in sight straight into their mouths.

She suggested that I get Summer a cool-mist humidifier and run it in her bedroom while she sleeps, and to put saline drops in her nose to keep her nasal passages moist. In the meantime we just have to let the cold run its course, and to call if it gets any worse over the next week or two.
So I did exactly what she said and we'll see how things go. I take her for her 4 month check up on January 5th, so lets pray that she is over it by then :)

Summer's Visit with Santa

2009-12-21T08:47:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, Nana wanted to take her grandbabies up to the mall to visit with Santa!! We all met over at her house first to get ready and take pictures. Here is Summer by Nana's tree in her beautiful Christmas dress that Aunt Victoria bought for her :

"I can't wait for Santa to come to my house!!"

Summer was amazed by the pretty Christmas lights.

Here is Summer's cousin Rhianna holding her and telling her all about Santa Claus and how she went to visit him last year!

Here we are getting all packed up and ready to go meet Santa for the first time, look at the excitement in her eyes.

Summer couldn't wait, she was ready to take off without me!!

*Family picture Christmas 2009*

We finally made it to the mall!! Here we are at the Entrance to see Santa. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as we did because we ended up waiting 2 1/2 hours to meet the big man!!

Rhianna wondering, "Is it ever going to be our turn? I'm tired of waiting!!"

Taking a rest on Nana's shoulder. Both of the girls did so good seeing how they both missed their afternoon naps, I was very proud of them both.

This is how Summer entertained herself the whole time, she didn't fuss once!

And their time finally came!! Here is uncle Shane, Rhianna, and Summer getting their picture taken with Santa :

Santa and Summer , I thought these all turned out so well :

Rhianna was so tired by the time it was our turn, so she didn't feel like smiling, but I thought this picture turned out beautiful :

Nana and Uncle Shane talking to Santa :

I couldn't have asked for a better first visit with Santa for Summer. All of the pictures turned out so well and now I feel that the wait was well worth it!!

* Big changes ahead *

2009-12-20T21:12:00.002-05:00

After many long discussions and lots and lots of prayers, Brett and I have decided that it would be in Summer and my family's best interest for me to stay home with her for the time being. Since I have been out on maternity leave my life has changed directions in a big way. Not only am I a mother to my little girl, I am now more involved in taking care of my grandparents.

My mom and sister moved in with my grandparents back in August of 2008 because my grandfather felt that he could no longer take care of himself or my grandmother alone anymore. My grandmother has had Alzheimer's for several years now, and recently we have seen a dramatic change in her. She no longer knows where she is and is quickly forgetting who we are. She also has Macular Degeneration and is almost completely blind now. She needs help with everything she does. My grandfather has had Emphysema and heart disease for several years also, and was put on oxygen full time last year. He has a hard time moving around and doing daily activities - so between my mother, sister and I we have all pitched in to help.

My mother is the powerhouse of it all and has sacrificed most of what she loves to see that they are well taken care of. It has been a challenge for all of us, but we are family and we will always be there for each other.

Since I am free during the weekdays, I have started going over to their house to help them with whatever they need done for the day. I do their laundry, wash dishes, pick up around the house, and do my Nanny's hair and makeup 3 times a week so that they can go to Cardiac Rehab. While they are gone to rehab I run to the grocery store if needed and pick my sister up from school. This has helped my mother from having so much to do in the evenings once she gets home from work, and has allowed her to start doing the things she enjoys a little more.

Staying home is a plus for me, because now I am able to spend more time with my family , and most of all watch my Summer girl as she is growing up so fast :)

Summer passed out asleep in the car after playing hard with all of her toys :

Summer has started teething recently, so now everything that she grabs goes straight into her mouth!!

My happy girl :)

* The best gifts of all are priceless memories *

2009-12-18T17:59:00.011-05:00

This past Wednesday, I woke up in the middle of the night to a bad stomach bug. I was so sick and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to take care of Summer that day and I definitely didn't want to pass it on to her. So Brett called his cousin Dana and she so kindly offered to keep Summer for the day so that I could rest and get over it. Brett works for Dana's husband Jason and he goes to their house every morning anyways, so he just dropped Summer off as they was heading out for the day. I was so appreciative that Dana took such good care of my baby for the whole day because I know she's a super busy woman having 3 children of her own!!

I started feeling better that night once Summer came home, and I was completely better by Thursday morning. Summer, thank the Lord did not get the stomach bug and she has been as happy as can be.

Today I went to work for the first time since Summer was born. Since I work at a children's dentist, a lot of parents try to get their kids in to get work done during their time off from school, so I offered to help out over the Christmas break. My mom came over to my house to take care of Summer while I was at work. I was a little bummed out driving to work this morning because I'm not used to being away from Summer and I missed her really bad. I enjoyed seeing the girls that I work with and catching up with them, but I was so ready to get home and hug my Summer girl :)

Brett got home shortly after I did and he handed me a photo album full of pictures that Dana had taken while she watched Summer for me earlier this week. I had no idea that she had taken any pictures, and I was speechless at what a nice gesture this was. I immediately started to tear up looking at the pictures, they were all so beautiful!! I couldn't have asked for a better present, and I will cherish these forever.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!!!

2009-12-13T15:35:00.001-05:00

Summer's great-grandmother "Meme" gave her an early Christmas present the other day of a whole wardrobe of new Christmas clothes - so that she could get good use out of them before Christmas was over!! She got 2 new pairs of pajamas, 6 Christmas onesies, and the cutest light up socks ever! Here is Summer showing off my favorite new outfit :
"Thanks Meme for my new Christmas clothes, I love them!!"

We can't wait for Summer's first Christmas, this is such an exciting time of the year. Summer seems pretty excited too :)

Here is Summer and her daddy in front of the Christmas Tree at Meme's house.

Showing off her new Christmas tree pajamas while relaxing with her daddy :)

The Daniels Family Christmas Gathering

2009-12-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Brett, Summer, and I drove down to Evans,GA for the Daniels Family Christmas party. It was held at Brett's brother Wes's house, and here is a picture of Brett's father's side of the family :

Here is Summer with her Great-Grandmother Rose. She lives down in Beaufort, SC so she is not able to see Summer very often. This was her second time holding her. Summer really seemed to love her as you can see in this picture :

This is Brett's grandmother Rose and Papa Lem, they both just turned 80 years old!! Their love and admiration for one another is an inspiration to all couples young and old.

Here is Aunt Felicia holding Summer's cousin Ansley, me feeding Summer girl, and Summer's Aunt Cori in the back.

Brett and I relaxing after stuffing ourselves :)

Aunt Darbee holding baby Ansley, and Aunt Felicia with Summer :

Here is Summer with her cousin Ansley. Ansley is Brett's brother Wes's baby and she was born on August 11th, making her only 3 weeks older than Summer!! Although they don't look too interested in each other in this picture, they were soo cute together. I look foward to watching the two of them grow up together and I love that Summer has a cousin so close in age :)

We really enjoyed getting together with the Daniels family and were glad that most everyone was able to come. It doesn't happen near enough since everyone lives so scattered around, but hopefully we can start making this a new Christmas tradition!!

Daddy/Daughter bonding time

2009-12-04T11:58:00.001-05:00

So the other day our upstairs toilet died on us. It was very old and had never been replaced since the house was built, so we knew it would happen eventually. Since Brett has been plumbing for 2 years now, he said that he would pick us up a toilet and install it himself and that we could call it my "Christmas present" for this year...oh what joy!! Summer was taking a nap while he was throwing out our old toilet, and I decided that this would be a good time for me to run to the grocery store. I asked Brett to listen out for her incase she woke up while I was gone. Needless to say she did wake up, but that didn't stop Brett from getting his work done - he just got her to be his little helper!!! I thought it was too cute that he had her down there with him, so we had to get a picture of her showing off the infamous "plumber's crack" :

I promise that this toilet was brand-new and clean, we took this photo shoot before the toilet was filled with water :) She just looks so thrilled to have been a part of this experience!

The other night I asked Brett to watch Summer so that I could get some Christmas shopping done. When I returned home, this is what I saw :

He had Summer propped up in her seat with a video controller and they were playing football!! I couldn't help but laugh because Summer just looked so mesmerized by what was going on. I've always said that I was going to have a real "girly girl" for a daughter, and I hope this doesn't foretell what is in my future - because if so then I'm in for it :)

Over the past several weeks, Summer has moved on to bigger and better things. She no longer likes her pacifier and wont take it at all anymore. She is now in awe of her two middle fingers. She tried out her thumb for about a day and didn't care for that much either, but those middle fingers are her new best friends. This is quite alright with me, because now I don't have to constantly pick up and wash paci's after she spits them out, nor do I have to go searching for them before leaving the house everytime we go somewhere! Life is good :)

Mmm Mmm!!!

I thought these next two pictures really displayed Summer's happy personality well. She brightens each and every one of my days with her smiling face and I couldn't imagine life without her.

Summer's first Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

Thursday, November 26th was Summer's first Thanksgiving!! My uncle Harold and cousins Jordan and Austin came into town from Atlanta to spend the holiday with us. For Thanksgiving lunch we met my whole family at Cracker Barrell to celebrate. Here we are rocking outside while waiting for everyone to show up :

After lunch, we went up to my mom's property in St. Matthews to see her boyfriend Tim and ride their four-wheelers. Summer was way too little and the four-wheelers were too bumpy for her to ride on, so after we were done riding them Brett held her as Tim drove her around on his Polaris, which is alot like a golf cart.

This was Summer's first ride around the property. My mom and Tim's property is 24 acres with a pond and a little cabin that Tim lives in. Tim has been hard at work clearing trails for them to go riding on and for him to put deer stands up around. We were able to see all the progress that he has made around the land and it looks great!! I'm glad Summer was able to ride around and see it with us.

After we left St. Matthews, it was time to head to Chapin to Brett's aunt and uncle's house to eat Thanksgiving dinner. We go there every year for Thanksgiving, and it is one of the few times in the year that Brett's mom's side of the family is all together. Her side of the family is HUGE compared to my small family. The food is always delicious and we always have a good time. I didn't get any pictures over there this year because my camera died from taking pictures all day, but I will be sure to bring an extra battery next year!

My cousins and their girlfriends stayed at our house over the long weekend, and we had a blast hanging out and catching up with them. Friday night we went to Wild Wings and to see The Blind Side while my mom watched Summer for us. Saturday was the Carolina vs. Clemson game, and this was sure to be a heated debate since my whole family pulls for Clemson versus the one Carolina fan in the family, Brett. My Pop wanted all of us to come over and watch the game with him, so after a yummy breakfast at IHOP we all packed into his living room to watch the game.

Since Brett was the odd man out that day, he didn't get to have a say in what Summer was going to wear. Here she is in her Clemson attire : She's saying "I'm so happy to be a Tiger!"

This is during halftime when Clemson wasn't looking so good. She's telling her baby "It's okay, we still have the second half to pull through and win it."

Sadly, Clemson didn't have such luck this year, and Carolina beat them 34-17.... There's always next year Summer girl :)

My uncle and cousins left to go back home on Sunday, leaving us with memories of a wonderful first Thanksgiving for Summer. We had so much fun with both of our familys and we look foward to all of the Thanksgivings to come!

11 week update

2009-11-20T19:48:00.000-05:00

Our Summer girl is just growing away!!! She is by far the happiest baby I've ever seen and constantly keeps us laughing. The only time she is fussy is when she is hungry, and she is already sleeping 12 to 13 hours each night!! She pretty much set her own schedule and it works out pretty well.

*She wakes up in the mornings around 7:30 and drinks 6 ounces of formula. Then we lay in bed and watch Nick Jr. Summer LOVES cartoons. Her favorites are The Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba.
*After watching cartoons for a little bit, she goes down for a nap between 8:30 or 9. She takes about an hour nap and then is ready to play. Midday is her what I call her "active time", where she is laughing a lot and playing the whole time.
*Between 2 and 2:30 she will go down for a long nap, usually about 2-3 hours. This is when I get stuff done, or sometimes take a nap as well :)
*After waking up from her nap, we play a little bit more and usually daddy is home from work by then and we get to play with him also!
*Summer loves to takes bath time, so we put her in the tub around 6:45 so she can splash around and get used to playing in the water, and at the same time get her all clean and smelling yummy :)
*By 7:30 Summer is rubbing her eyes and winding down. Brett enjoys feeding her and rocking her to sleep, so this has become his designated duty for nighttime. He has the magic touch at getting her to go down without a problem (on most nights!!) He makes it look like a breeze!

Here is Summer in the tub, grinning from ear to ear. She loves being squirted by her squirt toys, and she loves kicking her feet in the water.
All clean and fresh smelling :)

Passed out after a nice warm bath. Buddy loves Summer so much and is always by her side.

Playtime at Meme's

2009-11-15T15:42:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday Brett, Summer, and I go over to Brett's grandmother's (we call her Meme) house to spend time with her and eat lunch. This has been a tradition that Brett has had for several years now, even before we got together. We love our Sundays with Meme, and Meme sure loves her baby Summer :) This is a picture of Summer waking her daddy up on Sunday morning :

Here she is telling us "Hurry up and get ready, I want to see my Meme!!"

Here, Summer is playing in her cradle with all of her toys while I was getting ready for the day. She loves watching the bright colored animals in her mobile spinning round and round.

This past Sunday was perfect. It was sunny and warm outside, so we all decided to go outside and play!! This is a picture of Meme and Summer swinging :

Summer's big cousin Rhianna wanted us to join her in the sandbox, so we did exactly that!! Summer seemed to like putting her toes in the sand.

Brett and Jaxon were just enjoying watching all of their girls and soaking up the sun.

Rhianna really enjoys playing with my sister Kara. Here they are busy at work playing in the sandbox.

Rhianna's birthday is tomorrow, she will be a big TWO years old!!! Where does the time go?!

My baby girl and me relaxing after a fun day at Meme's, we're pooped :)

And she's OUT!!!

Happy 2 Month Birthday Summer Rhea!!!

2009-11-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

Today is Summer's 2 month Birthday!!! Aunt Kara was out of school today so mom took the day off so we could all hang out together. She told me and Summer to get up early and meet them at their house and that we were going on a suprise road trip. We didn't know where we were going, we just knew that it was in South Carolina and that we would be home in time for dinner. This picture was taken with Nanny (Summer's great - grandmother) when I got to their house in the morning.

Here is Summer with Pop (her great-grandfather) before heading out :

Me and my baby girl as we leaving for our day trip.

As we started driving, mom told us that she was taking us up to Clemson for the day. Here is a picture of Summer sleeping in her carseat. She slept the whole way up there.

Everytime we go out of town it is a tradition for us to find a Mellow Mushroom and eat at it. We eventually want to eat at every one of them :) Here is a picture of us girls at the Mellow Mushroom in Clemson :

Mmmm...pizza get in my belly :)

After we ate lunch, we went shopping in downtown Clemson. I found Summer this cute little cheerleader doll and I just had to get it for her...she seemed to love it!

On our way back home, we stopped by Table Rock State Park. We got out to walk around and take pictures, it was so beautiful up there!!

Me and Summer at Table Rock.

When we got home I ran to Kohl's to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. While I was there I found the cutest pink Christmas Tree for Summer's bedroom, so of course I had to buy it and put it up right away!! I already had an ornament set given to me at my baby shower, and I bought a Tinkerbell tree topper at the Disney Outlet in Tennessee, so all I needed was the tree - and I knew right away that this was the perfect one :)

All lit up!

Tinkerbell tree topper :)

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-11-01T14:24:00.001-05:00

Here is Summer on her very first Halloween!!! My mom had bought her a pumpkin outfit to wear, but she very quickly outgrew that, so Brett found this Gamecock cheerleading outfit. Even though I am not a Carolina fan, I must admit that she looked pretty darn cute in it!

During the day on Halloween we went over to Nana's (Brett's mom) house and made all kinds of yummy treats. We made caramel apples, mummy calzones, nachos, witch fingers, and ate lots of candy :) When it was time for Summer's cousin Rhianna and uncle Shane to go trick-or-treating, we drove over to Brett's cousin Dana & Jason's house for their Halloween block party. Again we had more food and candy and had a good time doing it!

I left my camera at home so I wasn't able to take pictures of all the fun we had, but when we got home I put Summer in the pumpkin outfit my mom got her so that we could take a picture of how cute she looked :

Summer with all of her Halloween friends :

Also this week, Summer has really started to smile alot. I think she is going to be a happy baby because she is almost always smiling.

Laughing at her daddy :)

Summer update 7 weeks old

2009-10-26T13:18:00.000-04:00

On October 23rd Summer turned 7 weeks old. We scheduled her 2 month check up a little bit early, so she went and got all of her shots that day. She did SOOO good and only cried as she was getting the shots. Here is a picture of her showing off her pink camouflage band-aids :

At only 7 weeks old Summer has already gained 3 pounds and grown 1 1/2 inches since she was born , making her a big 9 lbs 9 ounces and 21 1/4 inches long!! What a big girl :)

Here is Summer after she fell asleep sucking on her pacifier - what a tough life :)

Summer really enjoys playing on her activity pad, she loves looking at all the toys hanging from it and listening to the music it plays. Buddy just loves sitting beside her and watching her :

On Saturday October 24th, Brett and I drove to Jacksonville, FL for our friends Chris and Sarah's wedding. We got a hotel room right on the beach, it was so beautiful. This was our view from our room when we woke up on Sunday morning :

This was taken at Chris and Sarah's wedding. We had a lot of fun spending time with our friends and getting away for the weekend, but we missed our baby girl really bad. This was our first time leaving her overnight and we couldn't wait to get home and give her lots of hugs and kisses.

Summer's grandma (my mom) and aunt Kara watched Summer at our house while we were gone so that she wouldn't have to be taken out of her well-known environment. This is a picture that Aunt Kara took as Summer was winding down for the night on Saturrday.

Every afternoon around 2:00, Summer and I curl up on the couch to relax and watch a little TV. It almost always turns into us taking a nap like in this photo here :

Summer's First Vacation

2009-10-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

On Friday October 9th at a whole 5 weeks old, we packed up and headed out on Summer's first vacation - to the Great Smoky Mountains, TN. This was really exciting because it was my first trip to Tennessee as well. Here is a picture of the 3 of us getting ready to leave :

We followed my mom, Tim, and Kara in Tim's Explorer because they have been to these mountains several times and they were our "tour guides" for the week. This picture was taken as we entered North Carolina. I missed the "Welcome to NC" sign :

I was prepared this time and got the "Welcome to TN" sign :

Mom and Tim rented us a cabin in Wears Valley, TN for all of us to stay in for the week. We got to our cabin around 6pm Friday night. We ordered pizza and just relaxed after traveling the whole day. Here is a picture of Tim's very first time holding baby Summer, he was telling her about how he will teach her to go hunting and fishing in a couple years :

Brett and I snuggling up with our daughter and watching movies on our first night in the mountains.

On Saturday it was very cold and rainy outside, and the clouds were very low making it hard to see the mountains, so we decided to go to the local indoor flea market and look around. That afternoon, Brett and Tim wanted to watch the Carolina football game. We went to Applebee's to eat lunch and let them have their fun. Back at our cabin we had a pool table and a hot tub. Since it was still so nasty out, we decided to have another night in - the boys made good use of the pool table and thoroughly entertained us :

On Sunday, Brett had to go back home and get ready for work the next day. Tim's mom Lois and step-dad Stan came up to stay in the cabin beside us for the remainder of the week. Here is a picture of Stan telling me, Kara, and Summer stories by the fire :

We got up early Sunday morning to take a ride through Cades Cove. Tim has been here numerous times, so he knew that this was the most active time for all the wildlife. I was determined to see a bear, but didn't have such luck. Instead we saw over 100 deer - they were everywhere!

Right down from our cabin was a local wood carver. We went to visit his store and see how he makes these beautiful pieces of art. This was taken outside of his store :

The way these wooden animals are made is amazing. They start out as a huge trunk of a tree, then the artist uses a chainsaw to create his masterpiece. Since Kara loves parrots this one of course was her favorite :

Here is me and Summer with my favorite :

Every night after Tim would cook us dinner, our critter neighbors could smell our yummy food. The raccoons were the friendliest. This mother and her baby would sit at our back door each night searching for our left overs. She was so sweet.

"Cheeese!!! Thanks for sharing your food with us!!"

On Tuesday, the girls (me, Summer, Kara, mom, and Lois) went out around town while Tim and Stan had their day to hang out. Kara really wanted to go to a local attraction called Parrot Mountain. It was an actual mountain that was made into a Parrot rescue. There was every type of bird you could imagine there, and most of them were trained and could talk very well. Here we are at the entrance to the mountain :

This Cockatoo became our favorite bird right away. As soon as we walked up to him he said "Pet me!!", so we did as he told us, and as we were petting him he said "I love you!". He was quite a character.

A beautiful Scarlet Macaw :

Summer didn't seem very impressed by this and slept through the whole thing, even through the defening squawks and all!!

After we were done at Parrot Mountain, I wanted to go to the Disney outlet nearby. This was Summer's first trip to the Disney Store and I was very excited about it. They had an entire section of Tinkerbell things, so of course I had to take pictures!! All of the Tinkerbell outfits were 18 months and up, so we just strapped some wings on her :

I think Summer just enjoyed all of the bright colors in the store, she didn't know what to think!

We headed back home on Wenesday, October 13 after a fun 5 days in the mountains. I really enjoyed my first trip to TN and hope to go back soon :)

The first few weeks

2009-09-28T17:13:00.001-04:00

Wow!! These past few weeks have flown right past me and they have been a whirlwind of emotions to say the least! Let me just say that I am completely, head over heels in love with my beautiful daughter. I never believed in "love at first sight" until I laid eyes on her. The whole time I was pregnant everyone would say, "There's nothing like it, and you will never know that you could love something so much until they're here." Well they were exactly right, you can't describe it and no one can explain to you have awesome it is. Being a parent is something that you have to experience on your own to truly understand the feeling.

Being a new mom has also been a little bit scary for me as well. Brett had to go back to work the day after we brought Summer home. He asked me if I would be okay taking care of Summer on my own this soon and I told him that everything would be fine. Little did I know how overwhelming everything would be once I was alone!!! No matter how many books you read while you're pregnant, once the baby is actually here you are still not completely prepared for everything that lies ahead. And I was freaking out! Thank the Lord that my mom was able to take every afternoon off for a week to come over and help me get used to this new mommy thing and get some rest. She was a life saver that week.

I was still trying my hardest to breastfeed Summer, but since she was in Intensive Care for 5 days in the hospital I was having to pump and send bottles down to her the whole time. Once we got home she wouldn't latch on at all, she was already used to drinking her bottles. I pumped my milk into bottles for about 10 days, but eventually I couldn't keep up and she was drinking more than I could supply. I was so exhausted from being up around the clock to pump my milk and then feed it to her, that I decided to switch her over completely to formula. It was a very hard decision because I felt like I was letting Summer down and not providing for her like I should, but in the long run I am now able to enjoy my time with her more and get some rest when she is sleeping.

I have to say, the first two weeks were a lot of getting used to being in the new "mommy" routine. Now that I have gotten to know my baby girl better, things have gotten a lot easier and now I am really enjoying everything about Motherhood.

Here are the pictures that the hospital took of Summer on the day that she was released to come home. She was 5 days old :

Here is my mom and Kara on the night that Summer came home. This was their first time holding her since she was in intensive care the whole time she was in the hospital :

What a proud Aunt Kara!!

This was Summer's first sponge bath the day after coming home on 9/10/09. She didn't enjoy it very much.

Summer going to her first Doctor's appointment at 1 week old!! She looked great and had already gained 2 ounces, making her 6lbs 7 ounces.

Our happy little family on 9/12/09.

Summer at 1 week old.

Summer all dressed up for her first Carolina game against Georgia :)

She slept through the whole thing, but was still as cute as can be!

Another picture of Summer at 1 week old.

"Cute as a button" , relaxing with daddy after a long days work :)
This was Summer's first trip to Target at only 10 days old! This was a very special occasion and we had to document it. Target is mine and my mom's favorite store and we go there at least once a week. I hadn't been to a Target in over 3 weeks, and I couldn't wait to take her there and show her my favorite place to go :)

Summer girl at 2 weeks old :

This was Summer's first "real" bath on 9/23/09. It took awhile for her umbilical cord stump to fall off, but once it finally did we couldn't wait to put her in the tub. She absolutely loves taking a bath now!

Summer at 2 weeks old again :

3 weeks old :

Me and my Summer girl at 3 weeks old, I love being her mommy so much :)

Taking a nap.

Special Visitors

2009-09-20T18:20:00.001-04:00

Today was a very special day for the 3 of us. We took Summer to meet both of her grandfathers for the first time today!! Both mine and Brett's fathers died very young at the age of 45 and they never made it to be grandfathers here on Earth. We know that they are here in spirit though and they will always be watching over their sweet granddaughter in everything that she does throughout her life :)

Here is Brett taking Summer to meet her grandfather Wesley Daniels :

Telling Summer all about her grandfather and how much he would have adored her!!

Here, I am taking Summer to meet her grandfather Rick Daniel for the first time :

What a beautiful day it was for us to be outside and take Summer to meet her grandfathers! We will look foward to telling Summer all about her grandfathers when she gets older and I know that she will love them as much as we do :)

Summer Rhea's big day :)

2009-09-10T14:30:00.007-04:00

Thursday September 3rd was by far the worst day of being pregnant. I was one day away from my due date and completely miserable. I went to the doctor for my check-up that morning and was told that I was only 1 cm dilated, and that Summer was probably going to take her sweet time, and could be up to 2 weeks late before they would induce me. I went home and cried all day. I couldn't imagine feeling this miserable for TWO MORE WEEKS!!! Needless to say Brett completely avoided me that day which was fine with me because I didn't think I could talk to anybody without snapping their head off. Since it was the first Carolina game of the season I knew he wasn't going to miss it, so I told him to go to Jason's house to watch the game and to keep his phone beside him just in case. He got home about 11:30 that night to find me sitting on the couch just bawling because I was in so much pain - I think he was scared to come near me. I told him that tomorrow was the day and that there was no way I was going to be pregnant any longer, I couldn't take it... I guess he had gotten use to this kind of talk so he just told me to try and get some sleep, and he went and got in his bed.

I paced the house all night before I finally laid down around 4 am. After falling asleep for what seemed like 30 minutes, I was woken up at 5:30 am to excruciating lower back pain and the strong urge to use the bathroom. As soon as I got up and sat on the toilet, I heard this "pop" sound and an uncontrollable gush started running down my leg. My first thought was "oh thank god my water finally broke" , but when I looked down I knew immediately that something was very wrong.

There was an enormous amount of bright red blood in the toilet and it was still coming. I started yelling for Brett, but since he was in the other bedroom he couldn't hear me. I knew I had to act fast. I ran into his bedroom, yelled for him to get up and get my suitcase and get me to the hospital right away. I grabbed an armful of towels out of the bathroom and got in the backseat of my jeep. After arriving at the hospital, Brett got me a wheelchair and ran me up to labor and delivery. I told the nurses what happened and they could see that all of my towels had already been soaked through. They hooked me up to the monitors and Summer was looking fine...they weren't quite sure what was going on, but I could see the concern on their faces. They called for the doctor to come in and see me, and in the time it took her to get down to me Summer's heart rate had dropped dramatically. Dr. Skinner came rushing in and explained that my placenta had completely abrupted, which meant that my placenta had completely torn away from the uterine wall and that all oxygen supply was being cut off from Summer. This was why her heart rate was dropping so fast. She explained that there was little time to waste and that I was going to need an emergency C-section right away. She assured us that she was going to take good care of me and that Summer would be okay. She told Brett and I that I was going to have to be put to sleep for this since there was no time for an epidural, and that Brett would not be allowed in the operating room. While all of this was going on, I didn't even realize that the anesthesiologist was already in the room administering drugs through an IV he had already hooked me up to.

Within seconds I was wheeled into a bright operating room with at least 20 nurses and the doctor yelling orders to them...I felt like I was in a horrible movie and was completely lifeless and in shock. The nurses moved me onto the operating table, pulled the blue curtain up over my head, and I could feel Dr. Skinner rubbing the betadine onto my skin....I wasn't asleep yet. I just knew that I was going to feel the whole thing, but I didn't even care, I just wanted my baby to make it out alive and well.

Before I knew it, I saw Brett's face. The first words out of my mouth was "is she okay?" He told me that she was and that she was absolutely beautiful. I wanted to cry but I couldn't, I was too drugged up to say anything else. The doctor came in shortly after and explained to me that Summer was going to make it, but that she had inhaled alot of blood when my placenta abrupted, and that she was going to have to stay in intensive care for several days. She said that if we would have arrived at the hospital 5 minutes later than we did, that neither one of us would have made it. She said that I definitely had an angel in the operating room with me that morning. Summer Rhea Daniels arrived under a full moon Friday morning September 4th, at 6:40 am weighing 6lbs 5ounces and measuring 19 3/4" long. I was just so grateful that Summer was alive and I couldn't wait to finally meet her.

Once I got out of recovery, my nurse took me by the special care nursery on the way to my room. I was still pretty out of it, but all I remember was how fast Summer was breathing and it immediately broke my heart. She was in an oxygen bubble and hooked up to hundreds of wires and tubes to deliver antibiotics to her. I kept praying that she would completely recover and that all of this would be over soon.

I didn't get to see Summer for the rest of the day because she had alot of recovering to do and so did I. Since I had lost over half of my blood volume I had to get a blood transfusion that day. Brett kept going down to the nursery to check on her and he would take a picture each time to bring back and show me... the blood was working its way out of her lungs and she was getting stronger by the hour. I made him promise me that no one would hold her until I got to. I was so upset that I wasn't going to get to hold my little girl on the day that she was born.

I finally was recovered enough to get out of bed and go see my baby girl the next day, and Summer had gotten strong enough to have her oxygen bubble taken off and to breathe in regular room air. It was the best feeling in the world to hold my sweet girl for the first time, and I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. Her nose was my favorite and her eyes were such a deep shade of blue that I couldn't stop staring at them. I felt on top of the world. We spent most of the day with her, but since she was still in the intensive care nursery, we had certain visiting hours that we could see her and then we would have to go back to our room for them to have a break period.

Summer was looking increasingly better every hour, but the doctor wanted to keep her in the nursery until all the blood was cleared from her lungs, and until she felt fully comfortable with her going home. I was sent home on Monday, September 7th, and we had to leave Summer to spend hopefully only one more night in the nursery. We were right back up at the hospital the next morning to see our baby girl, and the doctor told us that Summer would be good to go home in a few hours. After filling out all of her discharge paperwork, we packed up Summer's things and strapped her in for her first ride in a car....we couldn't wait to welcome her into her new home :)

We're waiting...very (im)patiently....

2009-08-25T14:00:00.001-04:00

I haven't updated in awhile, but will try to start doing better now that the big day will be anytime now. The past few months have seemed to fly by while dragging on at the same time. We just can't wait to finally meet our baby girl, and Brett can't wait for me to stop complaining!!

I started my maternity leave a week ago after finding out at my doctor's appointment that my blood pressure was elevated and that Summer was measuring 2 weeks behind schedule. The doctor said it wasn't much to worry about, just that Summer was going to be little like her mom and dad, and that I needed to try and make it as close to my due date as possible so that she had the opportunity to put on as much weight as she can. I didn't want to go out of work this soon, but I am now appreciating that I did since this will be my last little bit of alone time for years to come! I have been able to get the house fully cleaned and prepared for Miss Summer and have also enjoyed attempting to catch up on sleep and just relaxing.

Brett has been soo good in listening to me complain about how uncomfortable I am and giving me a daily back/foot rub in hopes to hear me whine just a little bit less :) I have officially caused him to become sleep deprived. Along with me getting up to use the bathroom every 15 minutes, I can no longer find a comfortable position to sleep in, therefore I toss and turn for hours. He told me the other day that he was moving into the guest bedroom. I felt so awful for keeping him up at night and I immediately started praying that we wouldn't become an old married couple at only 22... I'll keep everyone posted on how this goes :)

Summer's Room

2009-08-01T18:19:00.000-04:00

We can finally say that Summer's nursery is finished!!! I love the way that everything turned out, Brett put in alot of hard work with painting and putting everything together and I think it turned out perfect. I knew before I was even pregnant that if I ever had a girl that I wanted her room to be decorated in Tinker Bell. My dream as a little girl was to be the Tinker Bell that flies down from Cinderella's Castle each night before the closing fireworks in Disney World. That has always been one of my favorite things to see when we go to Disney World every year and I have always loved Tinker Bell.

When I found out that we were having a girl I was ecstatic!! I went out looking that day for as much Tinker Bell stuff as I could find. It was actually a lot harder than I thought. I prefer the "classic" Tinker Bell rather than the newer, updated version and it was very difficult to find the perfect nursery attire. I ended up searching a lot online and found that Kmart and Walmart were my new best friends. I had to order several things and have them shipped to the store because our local stores didn't have them in stock. Now that everything is in its place, here's how it turned out :

This is the inside of Summer's closet. My sister had a Tinker Bell calender and she let me use the pictures to decorate the nursery with.

This is the front of Summer's closet door with her calender beside it.

I found this nightlight and outlet covers on Ebay. They matched perfectly with her room :)

The other side of the room - The changing table, shelves, rocking chair and window.

The armoire with Tinker Bell lights around it, Christmas Tree, and toy box.

I couldn't find a Tinker Bell mobile ANYWHERE. We searched for months. I ended up finding this flower mobile at a consignment shop and I thought it matched very closely with the theme and colors of the room.

A Tinker Bell growth chart and a hair bow holder that I made for Miss Summer :

I was very proud of Summer's bedroom door sign, I made it myself :)

The entrance to Summer's bedroom, with her Tinker Bell memory box.

Tinker Bell wall hooks that Brett's grandmother found for us.

We painted the letters over Summer's crib and sprinkled them with pixie dust (or glitter!)

We are so happy with the way that Summer's nursery turned out. I hope that she loves it as much as we do!!

Busy, Busy!!

2009-05-08T21:03:00.011-04:00

So we have been soo busy lately!!! Brett has been working his poor little heart out between plumbing and getting ready for Miss Summer. He has been getting lots of over time which is great, I'm so thankful he has such a good job that seems to be in high demand lately :) And when he gets home he immediately wants to work in Summer's nursery. I told him he needs to RELAX every now and then!

But the nursery is looking great... of course the theme had to be something Disney, so we decided that Tinker Bell would be super cute and that she would be able to have the same theme for awhile. So I found tons of cute Tinker Bell decorations from a lamp, a rug, trash can, pillows, window curtains, and the cutest wall stick-ons ever that can easily be removed when its time to re-arrange everything. But the comfortor is by far the cutest. Brett took the comfortor up to Lowe's so he could get the right color lavender paint to go on the walls and he came home and went to town!! And the walls ended up beautiful, the perfect color lavender :) Her furniture is white and lavender too. We spruced up my old dresser and armoire since it was still in good condition and all we needed was a crib. We finally found the PERFECT crib that will turn into a toddler bed and then a sleigh bed for when she's older. Brett's grandma wanted that to be her gift to baby Summer, so she bought it for us on Sunday...it should arrive by this time next week and I can't wait :)

Everything else has been going pretty good too. I think baby Summer will definitely either be a gymnast or a professional kick-boxer! But I love to feel her kick, it helps me know that shes happy and doing well :) It has become very obvious that she can now hear, and she really doesn't like loud noises. It can get pretty noisy at my office with the screaming kids and all...and when that happens my stomach starts to get really tight and hard and she starts kicking really hard. So I downloaded a bunch of baby music and put it on my Ipod, and during the day I hook it up to my belly...I think it really soothes her (or at least it makes me feel good knowing that she's listening to it!) Hopefully by doing this she will be able to appreciate and love music at a young age.

I am 23 weeks and 2 days now, and I am finally starting to FEEL pregnant. I never had the whole morning sickness thing thank the lord, and I haven't had many complaints other than a few growing pains. But over the past couple weeks I've started to notice several changes. First, my belly started to pop out a little. I haven't taken many pictures because anyone that knows me knows how terrified I am of gaining weight. I mean I know that I'm not getting "fat" and that I should be excited to physically watch my baby growing inside of me, but I've always had a major fear of my body changing. I need to take pictures so I can show Summer the journey that we went through together...I guess I will soon.

I have also become very, very clumsy. I seriously drop something at least 25 times a day, and bending down to pick it up is becoming annoying...because sometimes I have trouble getting back up, haha!! I also trip and bump into things alot, I think its because I'm not used to being a little bit bigger and my balance is slightly off...but I'm hanging in there :)

And hunger thing has been like a rollercoaster lately. Somedays I'm absolutely starving and feel like I could eat a horse...but when I start eating I can't ever finish it because I get full so fast. And then other days I dont get hungry much at all, its so weird. I've also been craving some pretty weird things. I've never really been a cheese fan and would be fine if I never ate it, but I absolutely LOVE ricotta cheese right now...I could put it on most anything. And chicken salad, I never ate it much in the past, but I love it now. But by far my favorite things are chocolate chip cookies and tootsie rolls (the chocolate and the flavored ones). I have to control myself because I don't want to eat too much of a bad thing...but a little wont hurt :)

So all in all everything is going good and I just can't wait to finally hold my baby girl. I go back to the doctor May 19th for my 25 week check up and will update everyone then!

20 Weeks and counting!!

2009-04-20T20:23:00.000-04:00

So I finally decided to start a blog to keep everyone who was interested updated on our journey through this pregnancy. First, let's rewind to the beginning...

We found out that we were expecting on Christmas Eve 2008 when I returned home from my week of vacationing in Walt Disney World. The whole time I was down there I noticed that I was unusally tired. I found myself having to go back to the hotel room to take a nap or either go to bed around 9 o'clock each night, which for very unlike me especially when I'm in my favorite place in the world! So when I got home that night I took a pregnancy test, and suprise!! It came back positive. I made an appointment with my doctor after the holidays were over, and I knew that this pregnancy would be monitored much more closely due to my previous history.

For those of you who don't know, we lost our first baby boy to a condition called Bilateral Renal Agenesis. At our 20 week ultrasound we found that he had never developed either kidney or a bladder and that this type of diagnosis was considered lethal to the baby. Of course we were devastated, and after tons of research, talking, and prayers we decided to go ahead and induce labor. I had our son Bronson on October 17, 2008 at 12:40 pm and he passed away while passing through the birth canal. We love and miss him more than anything, but know that he will always be watching over us until we meet him again!

My first appointment with this pregnancy was January 9th where we had an ultrasound and baby measured to be 7 weeks with a due date of 9/9/09. My doctor classified me as being "high risk" and wanted to send me to a specialist to weigh out my odds of anything happening this time. Of course I was very nervous and didn't want to tell anyone until I knew everything was okay. I prayed each day that this baby would be healthy and that all tests would come back normal. So far I've had 5 ultrasounds so that we can keep a close eye on baby and everything is looking totally normal, and all blood work has come back normal, which is such a blessing :)

On March 31st during our 17 week ultrasound, we found out that we're having a baby girl!!!! We are ecstatic. Her name will be Summer Rhea Daniels... which I absolutely love because it sounds so warm and happy, just like I know she will be :)

And today we had our most recent ultrasound at 20 weeks to take measurements and look closely at her organs. Everything is looking great, she has both kidneys, a bladder, a strong heartbeat of 150 bpm, and healthy looking bones. All of her measurements were normal, and she is actually measuring a little ahead a schedule with a due date around 9/3/09...we're hoping for an August baby so that all of our birthdays are in August :) We got several good pictures of her today after she was done wiggling around!! It is so amazing what the 4d ultrasound can pick up. We were able to see her face, hands and toes so clearly, and she definitely has Brett's big plump lips! I'll post todays ultrasound pictures once I get them scanned, but for now here are our previous ones:

Summer at 7 weeks

17 weeks

With her arms behind her head :)

* Day by Day with Summer Rhea *

formspring.me

formspring.me

formspring.me

*Sitting up*

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

*Summer's First Snow*

Happy 5 Month Birthday!!!!

*Hanging with the big boys*

Miss Chatter box :)

Playtime at the Park

*Baby it's cold outside*

Happy 4 month birthday!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Summer's first Christmas!!!

*Christmas Eve at Nana's*

Trip to the doctor....

Summer's Visit with Santa

* Big changes ahead *

* The best gifts of all are priceless memories *

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!!!

The Daniels Family Christmas Gathering

*Daddy/Daughter bonding time*

Summer's first Thanksgiving!!

*11 week update*

Playtime at Meme's

Happy 2 Month Birthday Summer Rhea!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

**Summer update** 7 weeks old

*Summer's First Vacation*

*The first few weeks*

*Special Visitors*

Summer Rhea's big day :)

We're waiting...very (im)patiently....

*Summer's Room*

Busy, Busy!!

20 Weeks and counting!!

Sitting up

Summer's First Snow

Hanging with the big boys

Baby it's cold outside

Christmas Eve at Nana's

Daddy/Daughter bonding time

11 week update

Summer update 7 weeks old

Summer's First Vacation

The first few weeks

Special Visitors

Summer's Room